Devil’s Valley, by André P. Brink – and other works
Oh so juicy, so wicked, so scandalous, smacking of perversion and malice! What fun!
Project Type: Reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Return of the Young Prince, by A.G. Roemmers
A.G. Roemmers had “held on to the spirit of his inner child, and when he met his Little Prince in Argentina, he wanted to relate that to us with this story, and draw our attention to its essence, to the poetry of it.” – Frédéric d’Agay
The Whispering Muse, by Sjón
In The Whispering Muse, the first person narrator is “Valdimar Haraldsson”, who is something of a pompous ass who has spent his life obsessed with the connection between fish and the superiority of Nordic Culture, and was the publisher of an obscure publication on that subject.
The Table of Less Valued Knights, by Marie Phillips
This is a quite clever, modern take on the knight’s quest of an Arthurian legend, with more than a nod in the direction of Monty Python And The Holy Grail. The setting might be Medieval, but Phillips’ writing style is modern, and so are the ideas of the characters.
Troll – A Love Story, by Johanna Sinisalo
If you’ve never imagined that trolls are an actual “thing” to people in Scandinavian countries, read this. Honest to Pete, you will come to believe this troll is as real as your dog or, more disconcertingly, your husband or wife.
The MaddAddam trilogy, by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s trilogy of Social Science-Fiction novels are cleverly constructed, very dark satires of the present day world. It’s Sci-Fi that seems disturbingly plausible and not so far in the future.
The best of Iain M. Banks
The fictional and sci-fi worlds created by Iain Banks/Iain M. Banks are complex, vast, often complete with new languages, peoples, philosophies, and geographies. Reading Banks is not so much sitting down with a few pages, but days of concentrated immersion.
The Last Policeman & Countdown City, by Ben H. Winters
Ben Winters writes plainly but very well, understating rather than overstating; being succinct rather than over-indulgent; trimming his text to leave just enough to keep the reader engaged and intrigued.
Binu and the Great Wall, by Su Tong
This novel is as much about the habits, beliefs, geography and peoples of ancient china as the character Binu’s travails. The subtext of the novel is in effect a description of a Taoist life, characterized strongly by Chinese fatalism.
World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters
Winters is an accomplished writer, producing a polished narrative, original imagery and an unconventional approach to end-of-days scenarios. Through neat turns of phrase and unusually prescient observations, Winters paints a restrained picture of the coming end of the world.
Railsea, by China Miéville
In this novel, the acclaimed, prolific Miéville uses trains and rail travel, from the simplest handcars to massive armoured trains, to create a Steampunk tour de force.
Wreck of the River of Stars, by Michael Flynn
This novel of 480 pages has an interesting proposition – a space ship powered by both Farnsworth nuclear fission engines and sails made of superconducting hoops.
Day of the Oprichnik, by Vladimir Sorokin
“Day of the Oprichnik” is about a day in the life of an official in a future Russia, Moscow, 2028, where the Tsar is God, and once more on the throne, worshipped by a cowed nation.
Embassytown, by China Miéville
This is a New Weird novel / thriller / sociological discourse about Linguistics in society, or to be more precise – Semiotics.
Zero History, by William Gibson
Faithful readers believe that William Gibson will always mess with your head and that that no novel of his will leave you with your assumptions about human-tech relationships intact.
The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Terry Pratchett gave the world the gift of his imagining, Discworld and his many other creations, and he exited this world graciously, trying to the last to do good. More so the pity then, that I did not enjoy his collaboration with Stephen Baxter in “The Long Earth” half as much as any of his solo novels.
Unseen Academicals, by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett had a fearless attitude about his own demise, and a scathing attitude towards leaving legacies.
Reaper Man, by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett solves the problem of writing appealingly about death by making death one of the most popular and fantastical characters in his Discworld novels – “Death”, a.k.a. Mr. Bill Door.
Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville
Miéville’s magnum opus, “Perdido Street Station”, is a magnificent tour de force of imagination, a grand experience in which the reader’s reality gets sublimated into the complete, fantastically detailed, spell-binding world of New Crobuzon and its inhabitants.
The City & The City, by China Miéville
On the surface of it, this novel is about two cities, Besźel and Ul Qoma, existing right beside each other, divided by a line, actual and imaginary. A murder takes place in Besźel, and a detective, Tyador Borlú, is tasked with “crossing over” and solving the mystery.
Pyramids, by Terry Pratchett
As usual with a Discworld novel, it is very funny, and the parodies and puns in the people’s names are highly entertaining
“S.”, by Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams
For me, “S.”, by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams, takes the Prize for this year’s Weirdest Novel and the one I found most physically difficult to read.
The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Buried Giant is not only memorable, it is also about memory – a quite stunning depiction of memory, love and loss, very precisely observed, and I recommend it highly.
This Census-taker, by China Miéville
Unlike all the other novels in which he has created secondary worlds that are completely coherent and minutely detailed, this novel has an indeterminate, nameless setting.
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-eight Nights, by Salman Rushdie
This novel is typical Rushdie, a modernization of the fairytales of One Thousand and One Nights which was told by Scheherazade, a legendary queen and storyteller.
The Last Days of New Paris, by China Miéville
In The Last Days of New Paris China Miéville has invented new words and languages, like he has done in many of his mind-boggling SF works.
The Famished Road, by Ben Okri
This book is so different that it is not possible to pigeonhole it into a genre. Its subject is both depressing and relevant; desperately poor Nigerians living in a slum, with a spirit-being as a child. It is both astoundingly creative and deeply sobering.
The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood
Atwood’s latest vision of the future has been overtaken somewhat by developments in technology and many individual aspects have already been depicted in earlier novels and films.
The Return of the Young Prince, by A.G. Roemmers
This edition was translated from the Spanish by Ollie Brock, with specially commissioned illustrations by Pietari Posti, and a foreword by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s nephew.
J – A Novel, by Howard Jacobson
This novel is set in a Britain of the near future, at a time after a calamitous global event, called “WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED”.
A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
This novel is on the shortlist for the 2017 Hugo Awards, which will be handed out at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2017.
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
This novel is on the shortlist for the 2017 Hugo Awards which will be handed out at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2017.
J – A Novel, by Howard Jacobson
“J” by Howard Jacobson, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize, made me feel vaguely worried and confused while I was reading it.
